Tag Archives: Terry Collins

Matt Harvey pitched well tonight for the Mets, but are you completely convinced he’s back. Or at least good enough the Mets to think they can rely on him every fifth or sixth day.

HARVEY: Five-inning man. (AP)

Harvey pitched five scoreless innings and issued only two walks and four hits. However, he threw 104 pitches in those five innings, which says he labored. For that many pitches, he needs to go seven innings.

I mean, that’s what Harvey would have done in 2013 or 2015.

It looks as if Harvey has been reduced to being a five-inning pitcher, which really isn’t acceptable on this level. It means the Mets must go into their bullpen for four innings.

That many pitches say his command if off and an inability to put hitters away. It also suggests he hasn’t fully recovered from his thoracic shoulder surgery.

So, from here on out, the Mets have to go into every Harvey start thinking five innings from him and four from the bullpen. With that thinking manager Terry Collins will have to go into the surrounding starts thinking more innings from the starters to preserve the bullpen.

Even so, defense cost the Mets tonight in the ninth. Dansby Swanson’s double was the epitome of hustle, and lack of it from center fielder Curtis Granderson, who played it casually.

It was ninth inning in a tie game. That’s when defense should be at a premium. That calls for Juan Lagares, and that’s on Collins.

The Mets might have been better off with Jose Reyes at shortstop instead of Asdrubal Cabrera because of range. The positioning of Cabrera more to the bag instead of toward the hole might have cost them on Rio Ruiz’s game-winning single to left.

As it was, Cabrera had no chance at the ball, but it makes one think the shortstop defense – especially in the later innings – needs to be re-evaluated.

With the Mets about to enter a string of 18 games in 17 days, manager Terry Collinssaid he’s exploiting going to a six-man rotation. The only problem is, by definition, they wouldn’t be going into. six-man rotation if they will go through the cycle two or three times.

However, for it to be a true six-man rotation, then it should be full time, shouldn’t it?

I have no problem training these guys during spring training and then open the season in a six-man rotation. Personally, considering four starters were coming off arm surgery this spring, it would have been a good idea to start the season in a six-man.

Of course, DeGrom, Noah Syndergaardand Harvey would have balked, but that would have been expected.

What Collins suggested isn’t a true six-man rotation but simply plugging in an extra starter because of a double-header, which the Mets have this weekend in Atlanta. This isn’t the first time Collins has done this, but I’d actually like to see a six-man rotation.

I’ve always been a Flores supporter, even long before the “crying” game.

If Flores is what the Mets expected all along – that he’s a role player – then take advantage of those expectations. Start his four times a week, with each start resting either Reyes, Walker, Cabrera or Lucas Duda, all of whom have some health issues.

With the Mets’ offense humming along, there’s no reason to rush Yoenis Cespedes back from the disabled list, especially since he’s still experiencing soreness in his right quad.

Cespedes hit today in Port St. Lucie and will be re-evaluated tomorrow. He won’t be back this week as the Mets originally hoped, so the delay will last until next week.

CESPEDES: No need to rush him now. (AP)

“He’s making strides,” manager Terry Collins said. “We’re getting close. The one thing I learned a long time ago is you can’t control the healing process of any player. Just because Yoenis isn’t here, doesn’t mean we can’t win.”

However, the Mets have the potential to push the recovery timetable but should exercise patience. The offense has been hot for much of the month, with everybody in the outfield, Lucas Duda and Neil Walker all producing for the better part of the last two weeks.

Overall, the Mets have homered 12 times in their last eight games; they lead the majors with a .394 on-base percentage with RISP and are second in hitting (.310) in that situation.

What has let down the Mets has been their pitching, both starting and the bullpen, and Cespedes has no bearing on those numbers.

The Mets have already pushed Cespedes back several times, so the prudent decision would be to wait another couple of weeks and re-test him then.

Do they want to bring him back and risk an injury that could sideline him for another month or two?

Pill goes his feet wet Saturday night in Pittsburgh pitching in relief against the Pirates, taking the loss in a 5-4 extra-innings loss, giving up one run in two-thirds of an inning.

“I thought, get him an inning, maybe two, get him through those right-handers just to make him feel like he belongs out there,” manager Terry Collins told reporters that night in Pittsburgh. “Instead of just running him out there on Tuesday with 10 days off since he pitched.”